A Phrase Most Difficult
by Hikaru Tsukiyono
Summary: Post game, GS TLA. Death is ordinary. It claims all who fight, eventually. So why would it trouble Felix so much? Well... death is all the more dislikeable when it claims someone you love. That's probably why some agreements are made... PiersFelix.
1. First Step

Whoops. Forgot about this. Standard disclaimer--I own none of this. Nope, not even the original premise--see, WoofBlackHayate and I cooked it up after she had an odd Golden Sun dream (she blamed it on playing too much Golden Sun right before bed). Anyway, I just... well, took the bunny and wrote it. So... warnings ahead! A little touch of homosexuality, i.e. slash... dude, if you don't like hints, don't read. Period. I mean it. Also, erm... this won't come until later, but there's... death. Duh. Well, if you read the summary, anyway, that's how it is.

Sorry... it's exams week, so I'm a little high-strung. For those of you who don't mind this pairing... enjoy! (Pssst... for the Isaac and Jenna fans, I snuck in a little, haha.)

* * *

First Step

* * *

How had it come down to this? Piers set his burden gently down on the top of a hill, Felix doing the same besides him. Jenna and Sheba lay comatose, drifting closer to true death with every passing minute. They had run into some unusually strong monsters, and both of the girls had succumbed to the creatures' power. Neither Felix nor Piers had managed to best any of them—they had simply taken the girls and run. What other choice did they have? Still… it was not the act of running away that bothered them now. Between the four of them, there was not a single Water of Life, and perhaps it was _that _ particular fact that kept the frown from leaving Piers' face. Not to mention that Balm was still recovering…

If only Mia were there, he thought. He was not particularly close to her, but her healing abilities would have been invaluable in this tight spot they'd been forced into. The fiends had driven them to the hill, where while they were able to see anything coming it was not easily defensible with only two able to fight. They were miles from the nearest sanctuary—it seemed as if something was determined to kill them both that day, and had formulated a good strategy on how to do so quite far ahead of time.

"So… any ideas?" the Lemurian asked. "We're stuck here for the time being. I believe that it would be in our best interest to make a tactical retreat to the closest village, but unfortunately we would have to take on the same monsters that nearly killed us in order to get there."

Felix shook his head. "We're not going anywhere for a while. At least until the monsters get tired of hunting us and go look for easier prey."

Neither needed to voice the grim thought that passed between them. With only two of them, there probably wasn't easier prey around for miles.

----------

Night fell, taking with it the last rays of the sun Felix took comfort from. A chill breeze blew through his hair, toying with Piers' clothing and finally departing with a playful flip of the water adept's headdress. His shiver was noticeable—certainly enough for the older man to take notice and move a little closer. It wasn't anything particularly effective, but the teen felt better anyway.

As he leaned into the warmth besides him (they hadn't bothered with a fire, since they had nothing to burn and had no intention of leaving the other party members unprotected) the Venus adept couldn't help but ask the question that had been bothering him for a while now. "Do you think we'll make it?" His voice was quiet, his tone grim. As much as he tried to be flippant about it, he had no control over the genuine worry that crept into his voice.

It wouldn't help, but Piers couldn't answer any other way… it didn't feel right to deceive the brunette with white lies to instill false hope. "Our odds of survival… do not look very good right now," he replied, somewhat helplessly. "Perhaps if we can keep the creatures at bay until morning…"

"Has Balm recovered yet?" the young man asked, abruptly.

Taking a mental inventory, the Lemurian noticed that indeed the Mercury djinn had set itself back into its slot. "Yes," he replied, leaving the earth adept's side to walk over to the bodies of Jenna and Sheba. "Shall I revive them now?"

No answer came. Piers whirled around as a twig snapped, sword drawn, and only the sight of Felix's limp body in the man's arms stopped him from impaling him where he stood. "You!" he snarled, hating that he couldn't do anything to the man for fear of hurting Felix in the process.

Then he felt the sharp-yet-blunt impact of a sleep psynergy hit him, cursing the fact that he'd completely forgotten that the man's partner was always nearby. As he crumpled to the ground, his sight unfocusing, he spent the last of his strength fighting the spell's effects before he blacked out, Agatio's mocking laughter ringing in his ears.

* * *

"Wake up, Jenna, please…" The Mars adept cracked open her eyes and blearily sat up. "Thank goodness! You really had me worried, Jenna." Isaac met her confused gaze with a slightly teary expression of relief that he tried to hide, once he realize he had tear tracks running down his face.

"What… happened?" she asked, confused. Sheba was sitting up, Mia having just finished attending to her; Piers lay unconscious some distance from her… and Felix was missing. _That_ woke her up properly. "Where's Felix? What happened to my brother?"

"We should probably ask Piers that. Jenna, what's the last thing you remember?" Sheba asked quietly.

"We… we were fighting some strange monsters. I've never seen anything like them… and they were just a little too strong. I remember one of them casting a spell, and then… I woke up here."

"Yeah… that's just about what I remember, too. We're not at the site of that battle, so either Piers and Felix managed to defeat them, or they just took us and ran. I suppose the latter is more likely, considering that neither of them were having much effect. In any case… they brought us here, and then something happened… Felix is gone, and Piers is out cold. Who votes we should wait until he wakes up to ask him?" Sheba said wryly, her worry showing in her eyes.

"Well, it's hard to ask him while he's out. What kind of fiends were they, anyway? I thought it was almost impossible for you guys to have your asses handed to you on a silver platter by just monsters," Garet told them, off-handedly.

Mia healed Piers' sleep affliction with a spell. "Why don't we ask him? He'll wake up soon," she added, seeing the looks everyone gave her.

-----------------

"Nngh…" Piers groaned and sat up. Six pairs of eyes seemed to bore holes into his head as he opened his eyes, blinked, and punched the ground in frustration. "Gods damn them, they got away…"

"Who got away? And where's my brother? Tell me!" Jenna seized the Lemurian by the collar in a vice grip that Piers could have sworn came out of absolutely nowhere. "Tell me before I roast you!"

He laid his hands on hers and began to pry her fingers off of his shirt collar. "Please let go of me, Jenna. I did try to stop them, but… they hit me with a Sleep spell, and here I am. I wish they'd taken me instead of Felix." Grimacing as earlier wounds began to catch up on him, he failed to notice the stricken look the female fire adept was giving him.

"Who took my brother away? Tell me! You saw them, didn't you?"

Taking a mental inventory of his injuries and realizing just how beaten up he'd gotten the night before, Piers paused mid-wince to reply, his voice grave. "Do you remember a pair of Mars adepts who gave us quite a bit of trouble?" At Jenna's nod, he continued. "The last thing I remembered was Agatio laughing at my…" he growled at the memory "pitiful helplessness. I didn't even see that spell coming. I am sure that if you were to find Agatio and Karst, you would also find Felix…" He stood, shakily, checking his equipment. At least Agatio hadn't bothered to steal anything from him…

"Agatio and Karst? But… what would they want with Felix?" Sheba wondered.

"If they've touched one hair on his head I'll kill them both," Jenna snarled. Behind her, completely forgotten for the moment, Isaac wondered just when she had become so protective of her brother—although perhaps the fact that she'd thought him dead for some years had something to do with it.

----------------

Quietly healing himself with one of his djinn, Piers thanked the little being and slipped away. He had to find Felix—it seemed utterly stupid, if one thought about it, but he had an odd feeling that if he just followed where his instinct led, he'd find the earth adept. Unsheathing his sword, he began to walk away from the group that was too busy watching Jenna stoke her murderous intent.

Sheba felt the sheer need to find the Venus adept in Piers' thoughts, and read his plans. 'Why do I have such a bad feeling about this?' she thought—but she let him walk away. If he felt he needed to do this alone so strongly, then it didn't seem like she was in any position to try to stop him. It was just a sort of gut feeling she had—something terrible was going to happen… "Stay alive," she told him, even though he was out of earshot now. "It would break his heart if you died."

* * *

A/N: Okay. Next chapter will be less sloppy, I promise. See you all next time! Please, leave a review, let's see what you've got to say about my first shot at GS fanfiction! XDD Albeit facilitated first shot, but nonetheless... hope to see you again soon! 


	2. To Fall

Erm... hi. I guess this story isn't very popular, since not only does the first chapter only have 18 hits, but I'm writing this to the depressing tune of "no new reviews! Have a nice day." So... here's another chapter, in hopes that it will entice people to like it better. And if not... then I lose all faith in myself as a writer, haha. No, I'm kidding. I don't usually write for this fandom anyway, so...

Standard disclaimers apply. The storyline is actually property of my friend WoofBlackHayate, but she's given me permission to use it, so... just in case that wasn't clear and that was what drove everybody off. Although I have to think it's my crappy summary that did it, too. Anyway, for anyone around who bothered to read, thanks, and... enjoy.

* * *

To Fall

* * *

_"It would break his heart if you died."_

If Piers had in fact been able to hear Sheba's words, he might have turned back; he might have returned to ask the remainder of Felix's group and Isaac's party to come with him. As it was, however, she had not managed to reach him, and the Lemurian continued to plow forward blindly. He had to reach Felix before something happened to him—whatever Agatio wanted with him, it couldn't be good. Cutting down a monster straying into his path without a second thought, he prayed he wouldn't come too late.

--------

The first thing Felix noticed when he regained consciousness was the rope binding his wrists together in front of him. That would have been easy enough to undo, save for the fact that his sword was gone and he probably couldn't reach the knife he'd hidden in one of his boots without a certain amount of flexibility that he didn't have. The next thing that he realized was how cold the stone floor was, and then it hit him—he was alone.

It'd been a little too long since he'd last been by himself. Even when he'd leaped off the Venus Lighthouse, the waves washing himself and Sheba away, he hadn't been alone… Sheba had been with him, and his sister had found them eventually. Then there was Piers. The man would never say how old he was (though everyone thought that he was likely older than Kraden—the scholar himself was inclined to agree), but he was probably the only one who could possibly make Felix feel so... the Venus adept scowled as he realized he couldn't really put his finger on the feeling.

It wasn't anything that needed to be immediately addressed, anyway. The cell was dark, silent—dead. That darkness pressed in on him, fearful and suffocating, and idly Felix wondered if he was to die there. If only there was someone to break the silence, someone who would let him out before he died of this oppressive darkness! Somewhere in his memory, a voice whispered a warning. _Be careful what you wish for._

"It appears that you're awake," came Agatio's voice. "Good. Karst is tired of waiting for you to wake up. Be thankful she didn't kill you while you slept." The cell door swung open, Felix gritting his teeth as the sudden onslaught of light shot needles of pain through his eyes.

"What do you want with me?" he asked.

"Well, at first I simply wanted to get rid of you for betraying Saturos and Menardi. But there's a much less bothersome, highly entertaining way to go about doing this then just killing you, like we originally planned. So we have a proposition for you." Agatio's smile bespoke false promises. "See, we have a friend who, although he is quite powerful, owes us his life. We'll let you go… on one condition."

"And that would be?" Felix growled, trying to loosen the rope around his wrists.

"Now, what kind of tone is that to take with your benevolent captor?" the male Mars adept asked, mockingly. "All we want you to do is fight him. He's been looking for a decent meal for a week now, I'm sure you'll do quite nicely. Of course, if you win, we'll let you walk away."

---

Karst played with her scythe, her hand just itching to unsheathe it and do some damage. But the Venus adept was unarmed, and not only that but Agatio's thrice-damned game forbid her to do anything to him. She wanted revenge for Menardi, why wouldn't he let her take it? She had barely begun compiling a mental tirade before the stoic young man spoke.

"Fine. Give me back my weapon."

_Oh_. The look of barely contained amusement on Agatio's face told the other Mars adept everything. Smiling now, Karst ran a hand over the curve of the scythe's covered blade. She wouldn't need it, though… this would be entertaining enough on its own.

"You mean that sword of yours? I don't think so." Agatio couldn't help but laugh at the sudden, obvious change in the Venus adept's expression. Fear. He hadn't seen anything like it from the teenager before, not even when Felix had caught a glimpse of the Mars adept before he was knocked unconscious. This could be fun… "You've dealt with him—or at least those under him—before. Remember those monsters from last night?"

Sucking in a breath with a hiss, Felix wondered what sort of monstrous being could possibly control such fiends. "I…" What could he say? It would be cowardly of him to back out, so he felt, and yet he didn't stand a chance unarmed. Did he really have a choice?

"Well now, hurry up and tell us what you'll do. One-on-one combat, or will you simply submit to us and let us amuse ourselves with you for a while?" Felix's eyes widened as he thought over what that could possibly mean. "Why don't you decide out here in the hallway with us?" Karst's voice was full of mock-concern as she and Agatio strode into the cell, picking up the Venus adept and dragging him outside into the harshly lit corridor.

"Hurry up, boy. We're getting tired of waiting." The female Mars adept's hand strayed to the handle of her scythe.

"He won't be choosing. Unhand him, _now._" Piers' voice rang out into the corridor as he rounded the corner, depositing the body of a dispatched guard unceremoniously on the floor besides him. The blade of Excalibur ran red with blood—Felix shivered at the sight of the normally gentle Mercury adept in such a state. He seemed almost… possessed.

* * *

"You. I knew we should have killed you back there on the hill. I suppose we'll just have to fix that now, won't we?" A toothy, sadistic smile spread itself slowly over Karst's face, and her hand closed over her scythe's handle ever so slightly. 

"I'll fight."

"You'll what?" Agatio wore an amused (although mildly perplexed) expression. "It took four adepts to defeat Saturos and Menardi, what makes you think you'll be able to defeat us on your own?"

Piers shook his head. "I will fight the one you wished Felix to challenge. If I win, you will let us walk away unharmed. If I lose… I will take his place." The bloodthirsty, vengeful aura from earlier was gone; in its place was a sort of fatalistic determination. Felix wanted to grab the Lemurian by the collar and ask him what the hell was going through his head. Why pick now of all times to try to be noble?

"Hmph. All right, then. This one's no fun anyway," Agatio muttered, pulling Felix to his feet and shoving him roughly towards Piers. The Mercury adept promptly dropped his sword to catch him, quickly setting about untying his bonds. Forgotten for the moment, the Mars adepts stepped back. "You've got five minutes. Use them wisely," the male Proxian called.

------

"Are you all right? They didn't do anything to you, did they?" Piers asked worriedly, once Felix was properly unbound.

"Why?" came the Venus adept's horrified whisper.

"Pardon?"

"Why… why did you say that? You don't even know who you're fighting!" the teenager yelled, hardly caring that it wasn't like him to be so vocal.

The Mercury adept raised an eyebrow. "Should I be worried?" he asked.

"Those monsters we couldn't kill had a master."

"And I'm fighting him?" the Lemurian inquired, almost flippantly. "It should be a challenge then." He smiled, and it tore a hole in Felix's heart.

"You'll… you'll… you can't do this, Piers! You don't stand a chance!" Felix latched onto one of Piers' muscular arms with both of his hands, his grip almost bruising. The Mercury adept winced as he felt the younger man's hold tighten. "I don't want to see you die too…"

"Felix… Fe, if you would kindly let go of my arm…" Gently prying Felix's hands off of him, he laid a comforting hand on one of the Venus adept's shoulders. "Jenna and Sheba are alive, Isaac's party came in time to save them. And… I have a reason to fight. I'll be fine, trust me."

"But…"

"When I left Lemuria, all I had was my sword, my ship, and my psynergy. You… you and the others gave me something more. I had friends I could fight for, friends who would fight for me." He drew the young man close. "Here… a kiss for luck." Before the teenager could say anything Piers leaned down a little and kissed him on the forehead, lightly. "Thank you for everything, Felix."

And just as swiftly as the kiss had come and gone, the Mercury adept picked up his sword and went to face his impending doom. Karst led him like a red incarnation of Mercury himself, and somewhere in his conscious the Venus adept remembered something Kraden had once told him—something about how in a different realm, far from Weyard, Mercury was the herald who led souls to the realm of death. The thought sent a fearful chill down Felix's spine.

* * *

"Enjoyed your sappy moment?" Agatio's voice cut in, snapping the teenager out of his reverie. His tone was laden with sarcasm. The Proxian in question leaned against the wall behind Felix, arms crossed and an annoyed expression flitting across his features. "You'll probably need it. He really doesn't stand a chance." 

"… I have faith in him," the Venus adept replied, not looking at his captor.

"Of course you do," Agatio shot back. "People always have faith. Feh, I drew the short straw this time. If only Karst didn't want to just kill you the minute she got you alone…"

The Venus adept said nothing, preferring to thumb through his memories of his little group's journey to light the beacons of the elemental lighthouses. He remembered how hesitant Piers had been at first to trust them, how eventually the Lemurian had become someone the party could not do without—and then there were all the battles. The Mercury adept was skilled with his blade, gracefully cutting down monster after monster. Such grace seemed a little incongruous to how powerfully built he was—but that, Felix supposed, was probably something he'd developed over the years from sailing on his own.

Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice when Karst returned. It was only when she took a swipe at him with her scythe as a joke (and actually nicked him on the cheek) that he was jarred from his daze.

-----

"Well, they're at it. I wonder how long this one will last—I'll give him fifteen minutes, tops." The female Mars adept played with her scythe, seemingly bored.

"You know my bet, as usual." As usual? Felix's heart sank into his stomach at the words. They had subjected somebody else to this? Agatio's words weighed heavily on his mind as he took off at a run in the direction he'd seen Karst take Piers. Neither Mars adept paid him any mind.

"Five minutes? Eh, but he's not like the matchstick swordsmen we tossed in there before. He's actually got a decent set of muscles," he heard Karst remark, as he ran.

"Muscle doesn't mean anything if you can't move fast enough to avoid getting hit," was Agatio's reply, and then he wasn't in earshot any more. All he could think of was keeping Piers alive.

"Hn." Karst clamped her jaw shut and settled back against the corridor wall. "Well, the only way to settle this is to wait."

_Almost there_… It had to be just a little further this way, Felix thought. Faintly, he could hear the clashing of steel against steel, but one thing worried him—Piers wasn't using any djinn, wasn't summoning. What in Gaia's name was going on in that room?

Then an inhuman howl rattled the walls and made the Venus adept clap his hands over his ears in a futile attempt to block out the sound. An involuntary groan left his throat as the sound seemed to pierce his skull, leaving it throbbing and ringing and his ears temporarily nonfunctional. He couldn't hear Piers cry out as a blow he was too stunned to avoid hit full-force, smashing him into a wall where he slid to the floor like a discarded plush toy.

"Twenty minutes? Jeez, he's losing his touch." Agatio shook his head. "I'll go check on them, then. I'm sure Felix will want a few minutes to say his goodbyes..." His voice was suddenly thoughtful, not quite as malicious as he'd intended. It wasn't as if it really mattered. He walked slowly, purposefully towards the arena room. He wasn't in any real rush. If things went as planned, the Venus adept would still be there.

* * *

He couldn't hear swords clashing anymore. Did that mean… did that mean that Piers had won? Or… no. _No!_ Felix sprinted blindly down the corridor, somehow finding the right room after what felt like an eternally lengthening hallway. By the time he got there, he was a little winded—and the sight that greeted him upon opening that door stole what remained of his breath from him. 

The Lemurian had propped himself up against the wall, Excalibur still clutched in one hand. A sword-wielding creature (appearing to be half-man, half beast) advanced on him, raising its blade for a final strike, and just as it seemed that the end was in sight for sure Piers pushed himself to his feet and impaled the thing. Excalibur pierced its intended target, the man-beast's heart, with impossible speed; letting out an enraged bellow the creature retaliated by bringing a clawed hand down on the back of Piers' neck. Stunned, he fell without a sound, somehow managing to recover and roll out of the way fast enough to avoid the sword point that stabbed into the floor right next to his head.

It was then that Felix realized that Piers was injured—badly. Mia would call it a miracle to see the man fighting so hard when it seemed he'd lost far too much blood. It painted the floor, the walls, and the blade of his opponent's sword—which clipped the blue-haired man on the collarbone as the mixed entity (that was all one could really call it) gave an unholy scream mid-swing and finally expired. With the entity gone, the anti-djinn field it had projected dissipated, and suddenly the Venus adept realized why Piers hadn't used his djinn as he felt all of his own recover.

The Mercury adept paled a little further every step he took, and as he pulled Excalibur from the dead entity's chest he seemed to hang in the air for a moment—then the blade fell from his numb fingers, its master following it to the floor shortly afterwards. The sword knelled an ominous note as it struck the stone of the room's floor, and though Felix couldn't remember how he'd gotten there he knelt besides it, Piers cradled carefully in his arms.

"You did it, Piers. You beat him, just like you said you would."

"Mm… I did, didn't I?" Piers didn't seem to know who he was talking to, though. A solitary tear rolled slowly down Felix's face, and he rubbed it away with the back of a hand.

"Yeah—that means you can't leave me now! Who's going to show me where the others are?" the younger man asked, feeling dark fear slither up like a poisonous tendril within his core.

"Felix? Oh, Fe, you're safe… I'm glad we met," the Lemurian replied, somewhat thickly. His vision was dancing in and out of focus already…

The Venus adept blanched as he realized his shirt was becoming soaked with the man's blood. "No… no… don't talk like that! You'll live! You have to…" He didn't have anything with him—no! "Flower!" He called, invoking the little djinni. "Please… heal him!"

Even as the golden light of the little Venus djinni's power gathered around Piers' wounds, Felix began to lose hope—the large wounds, the dangerous ones, would not close. The little djinni shook its head and retreated to Felix's psyche, leaving a little pulse of energy that sounded like an apology in its wake. _No… no!_

Piers smiled a little, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, Felix. I was careless… all I could think of was how I couldn't let them hurt you." Seeing the younger man's stricken expression, he sighed. "Oh, Felix… don't cry. Come now… smile for me."

Forcing a smile, Felix felt the tears well up anyway. "That's a little better," he heard the Lemurian say, "but it looks… a little tense. Still… you're beautiful when you smile. I lo—" Piers never finished his sentence, the black creeping up on the edges of his vision whisking him away before the words could leave his mouth. The hand that cupped the Venus adept's face tenderly suddenly went slack, falling away.

There was no need to hold back now. The tears began streaming down the stoic young man's face, all of his emotional barriers shattered in that one instant. Hugging the Lemurian's still form to himself, Felix murmured, "You're still warm…"

* * *

Agatio found him kneeling by Piers' body. Clutching a hand that had only started to grow cold, the tears had slowed. The youth was silent as death, the only sound in the room being the nearly inaudible _plip_ of his tears as they splashed one by one on the flagstones tiling the floor. He would not speak—not when the Mars adept needled him, insulted him, mocked his masculinity or his ability as a swordsman. It was like he could not even hear him… When the Proxian started on Piers, Felix merely tightened his grip on the fallen swordsman's hand. He had closed the Lemurian's eyes at least… somehow the idea of the man's sightless golden eyes staring emptily at the ceiling seemed a little unsettling to the Mars clansman. 

Realizing that nothing he said was working, Agatio changed tactics. "Come here." His voice was a little kinder, and at last the Venus adept looked at him. Suppressing a shudder (Felix's eyes were glazed over… it looked almost as if he too had left the realm of the living), he held out his hand and tried to look understanding. Without a word, the youth laid Piers' hand by his side and stood, giving the Lemurian's body a final look… as if he was saying farewell. Then he walked stiffly over to the doorway where the Mars adept stood.

Taking the broken youth's hand, Agatio led him away.


	3. No Man is an Island

Last chapter. Standard disclaimers, boyxboy content. Don't like? Don't read. Flames really aren't all that appreciated. Thanks, all. Enjoy, for those of you who are staying.

* * *

No Man is an Island

* * *

"Wake up." 

The voice was familiar, soothing, comforting. Felix didn't know who it belonged to, but he clung to it anyway. Floating through a dream-like haze, mind sodden in grief and heart shattered, it was an anchor to a world that had seemed almost to cease to exist for him. His only other company was the memories scattered about him like abandoned toys, Piers' image in each one. Seeing the Lemurian as he had been in life—whether smiling, laughing, mourning the loss of his mother, fighting for himself and his friends—briefly strengthened the pain, and fighting back fresh tears Felix gathered the memories close to himself. 'If only I could die here and go with him…' he thought.

Then his dream realm was pierced by an arrow of light. As he slowly rose towards wakefulness, he thought he heard that voice again, and felt lips that he knew brush briefly over his own…

* * *

He woke to find the room empty—except for his sister, who upon walking in had taken notice of his sudden state of awareness. 

"Felix! Are you okay? Are you hurt? … Have you seen Piers?" Jenna hovered over him, her unceasing flow of questions adding another characteristic to the list of things that Felix would think proved they weren't actually related.

"… I'm fine, and…" He wondered belatedly whether she and Sheba had discovered what had happened to Piers yet.

"Garet and everyone came with us. Mia managed to revive Piers, although it was a bit of a close call… by the time we found him, he was probably about to board Charon's ferry..." Seeing her brother blanch at the statement, she changed gears. "It's okay if you don't want to tell me about what happened back there, just that he told us he'd go see you earlier—did he leave already?"

"Where are we?"

"Alhafra. You've been asleep for two days now, are you hungry? I'll go get something for you to nibble on until lunch." His sister paused as she stood in the doorway, before turning back to look at him. "Don't do anything stupid, okay? And… I think Sheba wanted to talk to you. You should go find her later, she'll probably be up on the cliff top somewhere. You know, where the wind blows."

Watching his hot-tempered younger sister leave, Felix numbly wondered when it was that she had become so willing to care for him. Turning his face to the window that had been left flung open to let the sunlight flood in, he shut his eyes and with a muffled groan went back to sleep.

* * *

_The battle had been frighteningly difficult. Having no choice but to run, Piers and Felix nodded to one another and sheathed their weapons. Picking up Jenna and Sheba's unconscious forms easily (perhaps a little too easily—the same restless drive that made them roam across the land, hunting down monsters, had also left them precious little time for necessities like sleep and meals) the two adepts made a mad dash for the edge of the clearing, into the forest where they could lose the monsters more easily—or so they thought._

_But the beasts pursued them. The sound of the heavy, thundering footsteps of the monsters pursuing them lent the speed of fear to the weakened party's flight, but whether it was a trick of the Wise One or merely a freak accident they could not tell. All they knew was that the creatures were just a notch below Doom Dragon, and that they were swift—unnervingly so._

_Perhaps it was the adrenaline that led them to the place, but though the hill was not the most defensible position it was high enough that nothing could sneak up on them—as fast and powerful as the monsters were, surely a sword-thrust to the heart would finish them, especially if they impaled themselves while dashing up the hillside. It was there on the hilltop that they laid their friends down and discovered that they had no way to revive them, the djinn still in recovery and not a Water of Life in sight._

_It was there on the hilltop that Felix had almost completely worked up the courage to say to Piers one of the most difficult phrases humankind had ever coined. It was also there that he'd been prevented from doing so by a swift strike that had merely allowed him a fleeting glimpse of his assailant's face—Agatio. Then he saw nothing._

"Wake up."

At first he only rolled over and mumbled something unintelligible, keeping his eyes closed. As bad as the dream had been, it might have been better than to face whoever it was invading the sanctity of his room. Keeping his breathing even, Felix wondered how long it would take to convince the intruder that he was sleeping and make them leave.

"I know you're not asleep, Felix, so get out of that bed before I bloody well Spark Plasma your ass out of it!"

_That_ got his attention. "Sheba?" he asked blearily. "What… what are you doing in my room?"

"I'm in this room because a certain Venus adept has insisted on sleeping the whole day away after he was comatose for two days straight. If you're so depressed about Piers you should just tell him how you feel. He isn't going to punch you or anything, you know—and if he does, I'll Spark Plasma him for you."

Mumbling something about how that wasn't going to help him much, Felix rolled out of bed and began absently putting on his armor. Even if he wasn't going to leave town, it just gave him a sense of security—and maybe the armor would make it hurt less if Piers did actually hit him. It wasn't until he was pulling on his gauntlets that he realized Sheba was staring intently at him.

"…" _What are you doing, Sheba?_

"Nothing at all, Felix, nothing at all. Except… I know something you don't." Sheba grinned cheekily at him. "It might be very interesting to you, actually… if you want to find out, come to the cliff top where the wind blows."

"…" _Oh, for crying out loud… stop reading my mind!!_

The Jupiter adept stuck her tongue out at him. "If you don't talk, I have to keep reading it. How else will I know what you're trying to say?"

"Sheba?"

"Yes, Felix?"

The Venus adept scowled. "You suck." It didn't help that this only made her laugh.

---------

Nevertheless, about half an hour later he found himself wandering down to that clifftop Sheba had mentioned. Echo chattered excitedly in his mind, and when the little entity materialized he absently patted it on the head. Felix didn't get why the djinni was so excited, but nevertheless he followed it as it hopped up to the clifftop.

"Oh. You wanted to talk to Haze? You should have mentioned something sooner…" He patted the Venus djinni again and gave it a little push towards the Jupiter djinni, who was chattering rapidly to Sheba about something or another. Echo looked back at Felix and cocked its head, as if asking him why he wasn't talking to the person he wanted to, and hopped off to greet the Jupiter djinni.

"Felix! You came. I almost thought you wouldn't!" Sheba smiled at the Venus adept, who managed the most perplexed expression she had ever seen (much to her amusement) before nodding.

"… Yeah."

"All right. Before I tell you anything, though, we have one more thing to take care of." Sticking her thumb and index finger in her mouth, the Jupiter adept blew a piercing whistle. Felix wasn't sure when she'd learned the control for this kind of feat, but the wind carried the sound of the whistle out to sea as if on command.

"What was that—" Felix began, before being cut off by Sheba's raised hand.

"Just be patient and wait. As long as he didn't behave like a total idiot and use up all of his psynergy fighting aquatic monsters, he should be flying in soon—give him a minute or two."

-----

An hour later, Sheba's expected guest had not appeared. Echo chirped sadly, and Felix patted the little djinni on the head gently. "It's okay. I'll be all right, don't worry about me," he told it. The Venus djinni chirped again, sounding unconvinced.

"Sheba? Felix? What are you two doing up here?" Mia walked up to the clifftop with Ivan in tow. The male Jupiter adept looked a little embarrassed, but when the Mercury adept smiled at him he grinned sheepishly.

"I don't suppose there's something going on between you two, is there?" Ivan teased, completely missing the '_don't-go-there_' look Mia shot him as the words left his mouth.

"We're waiting for someone," Sheba replied, just a little frustrated. This plan of hers was foolproof, darnit, so why didn't that blockhead show up like he was supposed to? "And not only does Felix like someone else, but I prefer being independent _thank you very much_."

Ivan let out a squeak and backed up a little so that he stood slightly behind Mia at the tone of the other Jupiter adept's voice. Girls were scary sometimes, he decided. Peeking out, he found Sheba still scowling at him, prompting another squeak.

"It's okay, Ivan," Mia told him kindly. "Sheba… could you stop scaring him?"

"Sorry." The female Jupiter adept turned her gaze back to the ocean—just as Piers' ship sailed up. The Lemurian gave the dragon prow a pat and leaped off the ship onto the cliff. "Piers… you're LATE." A few sparks played between Sheba's fingertips as she gave the Mercury adept a stern look.

Piers held up his hands helplessly. "My apologies! I ran out of psynergy. Those wings are a bit energy inefficient, if you ask me!" He pouted, somewhat naturally. After all, nobody had asked him before attaching the bloody things to _his_ ship.

"No excuses. You've left poor Felix here waiting for the better part of an hour." The female wind adept cracked a sly half-grin as she noticed the Lemurian color visibly and look at his feet. "Now… I believe it's time you two have had a much-needed conversation. Good thing you left such a sloppy trail when you went chasing off after him, otherwise those would really have been your last words to him. Now you can fix all of the trauma you've caused!" Completely ignoring the embarrassed, stricken look on Piers' face and the utterly confused expression on Felix's, she grabbed them both and gave them a bit of a push towards the beach.

Feeling just a bit awkward, Piers snagged Felix's hand and led him away. Neither of the young men noticed Sheba whisper something to Haze shortly before the djinni disappeared too. Echo giggled but would say nothing.

* * *

"…" Felix stared at the ocean from where he sat next to Piers. His armor was starting to bother him—despite that his element was earth, he never seemed to be able to keep the sand from getting into his boots (and everything else, for the matter). Turning to face the Mercury adept, he found… empty space. There was nothing but sand where the Lemurian had been sitting. Nothing except—a blue scarf, and then Piers' usual over-shirt, and his boots, and— 

"Fe, what are you doing?" There stood Piers, divesting himself of his headdress. His tunic was already gone, as was his armor. In fact—he was in nothing but his shorts and that red ribbon he never seemed to take off his wrist. "The water's wonderful, Fe! You're missing out!" The Mercury adept laughed as the waves broke harmlessly around him, the spray swirling playfully about him before spreading behind him like wings.

"… I can't swim." For the matter, he thought ruefully, he hadn't actually done any voluntary swimming for what appeared to be years. Venus, amazing what a couple of near-death experiences could do to a guy. Echo chirped encouragement somewhere nearby, but when Felix turned to look quizzically at the djinni he found it apparently quite occupied with talking to some of Piers' Mercury djinn.

The Mercury adept laughed again. He apparently didn't know anything about Felix's ill experiences with water, but… well, the Venus adept wasn't about to tell him that his element had nearly killed him twice. "Of course not, Fe. You can't swim with all that on! It'd be too heavy." Piers walked out of reach of the breakers to kneel in front of the earth adept. "Let's take this off first." He reached for Felix's ever-present scarf.

The younger man's eyes widened. He felt Piers unwind the scarf from his neck and gently fold it up and put it aside (quite neatly at that, compared to the trail of clothing from where the Mercury adept had been sitting all the way to where the waves lapped gently at the sand). It was definitely the strangest thing that had happened to him that day, including the kiss that he'd felt just moments before he floated up into the waking world—and Felix felt his face flush. He didn't make any move to stop the man, though, and soon he was down to his trousers.  
"You _are_ wearing something under these, right?" the Lemurian teasingly asked. Laughing outright at the somewhat horrified expression Felix shot him, Piers grinned. "Of course you are. Off the trousers go!"

"Wha—no!" The Venus adept shook his head frantically, his face rapidly approaching beet-red.

"Come now, Fe. I'm okay because I wear shorts. But you're going to get your trousers wet, and I'm sure you would much rather they stay dry than have to ask Jenna to dry them." Both men grimaced, thinking on the last time they has asked Jenna to dry anything. She was usually a little too enthusiastic with using her fire psynergy on… well, anything really. Things tended to come back slightly scorched and somewhat smaller whenever such requests were made. Neither had dared even think of asking Sheba to do such a thing—even if she seemed less likely to char clothing items, it still probably wasn't worth the possible Spark Plasma.

"… Fine." His face well past the shade of a ripe beet, Felix pulled off his pants and set them on the stack of his clothes. Standing there in a pair of green boxers that matched his scarf (he always did prefer earthy tones), the Venus adept couldn't help but cast about a discreet look to make sure no one besides Piers (who couldn't be helped) was about.

"… I think in your case it definitely wouldn't hurt to show a little skin every now and then," came Piers' voice, slightly muffled as if he had a hand over his mouth and nose to conceal a nosebleed. The Venus adept was considerably paler than the Lemurian, what with his outfit of choice that covered everything up. Tall, lithe, and strong, he was most certainly a sight to behold. In the background Echo chirped something that made the young man blush harder if possible, and having gotten his nosebleed under control Piers smiled.

* * *

Felix turned to Piers and found him washing off his face with a handful of water he'd probably just used Douse for. There was something… endearing, in some way, about the man. Maybe it was just the way he called him Fe for no reason, maybe it was something else entirely. Whatever it was, he didn't know why he liked him so much. "Go on, he's waiting!" Echo called, and the blush on the Venus adept's face darkened. Looking down slightly, he walked over to stand beside the Mercury adept. 

Slipping his hand into Piers', he walked hesitantly into the water. It lapped around his ankles, neither threatening nor comforting. Feeling the Mercury adept give his hand an encouraging squeeze, he ventured in up to his shins, then his knees, and to his waist. His boxers were soaked, but he really couldn't care—all he could register was that one, it was cold, and two, Piers was right next to him grinning like he'd tossed a Lucky Medal into the fountain in Lemuria and gotten an ultimate weapon in return. It didn't really help the niggling feeling of fear welling up somewhere inside his conscious, though…

Piers' smile faded a little when he noticed how Felix kept sending him pleading glances. "… Does the water bother you?" the Lemurian asked. He waded around to stand in front of the earth adept and saw a nod. For a moment, the water adept was silent—and then he grinned again. "Fe, put your arm over my shoulders." Ignoring the questioning look that the earth adept gave him, he made sure Felix's arm was in place before he picked the younger man up bridal style. "Don't worry, I won't drop you. You're rather light, actually… No, that's not a bad thing, Fe. Don't scowl at me like that. You'll start looking like Jenna."

Hanging onto the older man's muscular frame for dear life, Felix couldn't help but laugh a little at the absurdity of the statement. "Scowling won't turn me into Jenna, Piers."

"And thank the Wise One for that! Otherwise she'd be trying to fry me with a Serpent Fume, and Mercury knows how many times she's delivered such threats!" The Mercury adept laughed too, and as they laughed the excess water on their skin fell away and retreated back to the gently lapping waves.

The earth adept first noticed the oddity once they had reached the shore. "Why are we suddenly dry?" he asked, quirking a brow.

"The water probably noticed that we needed it to give us some space." At Felix's incredulous look, Piers couldn't help but laugh a little more. "It's a perk of being a Mercury adept. The water listens to you once you've gained enough control."

"But I'm not a Mercury adept," the younger man pointed out dryly. "At least, I wasn't last time I checked, anyway."

"So I noticed, Fe. So I noticed." Grinning cheekily at Felix, the water adept planted a soft kiss on the younger man's forehead. "I suppose it just has a blanket effect over the both of us since we're so close right now."

"… Yeah. I guess so." If Piers noticed the way the Venus adept colored at their close proximity, he made no mention of it. "Umm… We're out of the water, so… could you put me down?"

-------

The Lemurian pretended to consider it briefly, and then cheerfully replied, "I'd rather not."

There was no way Piers would miss the blush on his face, Felix thought miserably. He had to be at least the shade of a nice ripe tomato by now… "W-why not, Piers?"

"We haven't really talked yet. I'm sure Sheba would probably send a Spark Plasma my way if I left it without discussing anything that happened with you, but… I don't really want to bring anything unpleasant up at the same time. I'm sorry to have worried you, though…"

"… Next time, don't leave me there alone," the Venus adept murmured quietly. "If you're going to die, at least let me go with you."

Piers actually scoffed at this. "Nonsense, Fe. Under normal circumstances if I were to be so foolish as to die, you'd be able to bring me back in heartbeat—there'd be no sense in allowing you to die with me, since I wouldn't actually die anyway." Seeing the look on the other adept's face, his expression softened. "I'd rather fight harder to stay alive and be with you than to drag you down with me in any case, Fe."

"…" The earth adept seemed to study him carefully after that, scrutinizing him for signs of the well-meaning white lie.

"I speak the truth, Fe, and nothing but the truth. This I swear to you—although if that was not exactly what you meant, it would help if you would actually voice your thoughts as opposed to keeping them inside your mind. If I could read minds like Sheba this wouldn't be so inconvenient, but…" Trailing off, the Mercury adept could do little but wonder if perhaps he'd simply dug himself into a hole. One look at Felix changed that thought.

--------

At first it was only the Venus adept's hands that were shaking, the color in his face passable as merely having been out in the sun for a little while. Yet with the little things that Piers did and said, and their close proximity, Felix's face steadily turned a deeper shade of red, until he could swear that he might (again) pass for a beet. As he began to tremble from the intensity of his suppressed emotions—well, why keep it bottled up?

The moment that Piers finally relented and set him down on his feet, the earth adept made a decision. Hesitating only for a second, he looked into the Lemurian's golden eyes and suddenly he knew, he knew! Throwing his arms around Piers' neck in a sort of flying-tackle hug, he met Piers' shocked gaze for only a few seconds.

"Fe? What—mmph!" Kisses were definitely better than he'd given them credit for, Felix thought. Especially when the man in his arms gave up trying to ask whatever question that had been and kissed him back, his strong arms wrapping around him and holding him close.

When they finally disengaged for air, Echo giggled and clapped, making a chirping comment that Felix chose to ignore, his deepening blush testimony to its slightly off-color nature. Out of curiosity, Piers asked Serac what the Venus djinni had said and received no answer, save for a comment of an entirely different sort that achieved (more or less) the same effect on the Lemurian.

Their eyes met, each a little flushed, both a little flustered and at a loss.

"They're going to think we did something weird," Felix commented, eyeing their discarded shirts.Stifling a reply suggesting that such might happen, the Mercury adept smiled and cupped the Venus adept's face in one of his hands. "Is that so bad?" he asked. They were pressed so very close, and even with the remaining fabric there was so much skin-to-skin contact it made him a little wonderfully light-headed. It seemed… a bit risqué at best, but still…

"… I guess not." Discreetly using some psynergy to smooth out the sand directly beneath them, the earth adept pulled the water adept down on top of him. "I don't think I'd really mind it at all."

Laughing, Piers kissed him again. "I'm glad I was lucky enough to meet you. And… I do not intend to die on you any time soon, so you had better not die either, all right?"

"Fair enough." Felix smiled into the kiss, twining his legs around the water adept's waist. The three-word phrase could be left unsaid—in a way, perhaps, they had known from the very beginning.

* * *

Epilogue

On a hilltop, out of earshot of the new, happy young couple (young was a slightly questionable adjective in Piers' case, but Sheba was willing to overlook it since Felix didn't seem to care at all) a young Jupiter adept watched it all unfold.

"Ha, I knew he had it in him!" she crowed, clearly satisfied that everything had turned out the way she'd planned. Poor Felix was terribly red in the face, but he seemed so delighted at the same time that Jenna, who stopped to take a look, was utterly shocked.

"If he breaks his heart I'll fry him medium-rare," she'd declared in her usual overprotective sisterly manner, stalking off afterwards—no more than that. Perhaps it was because Piers had traveled with them for so long, or because Felix looked so carefree, so utterly joyful with the Mercury adept. (It might be noted that if it had been anyone else, she would have reduced the offender to ashes.)

It didn't keep Ivan from gawping like a fish as he realized two things. One, Felix was wearing far less than usual (although he'd thought the Venus adept was more of the briefs type), and two—two, was that _Piers_ Felix was getting so cuddly with? Their faces were getting closer, and closer, and as he dimly registered that yes, Felix seemed to be blushing madly and that there was something of a flush on the Mercury adept's face a pair of hands clapped themselves over his eyes, blocking his vision.

"What? Mia? Is that you?"

"Yes, Ivan. Come away now, let's go have lunch."

"What? But… Mia, what are they doing? Is Piers going to do something to Felix?"

Mia was forced to try to stifle a giggle as a number of… decidedly _interesting_ mental images floated up. Sheba turned red as she caught them, turning off her mind read. Who knew that Mia had such an active imagination? "We'll explain everything to you later," the female water adept promised. "Now let's have lunch, and leave those two in peace."

-end-


End file.
